Insights of Agrarian anthropology Conference 2017

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DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGYUNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD

HYDERABAD

International Conferenceon

Agrarian anthropology: insights and pathways

February 16-17, 2017

Department of Anthropology

University of Hyderabad

Hyderabad

2|Agrarian Anthropology: Insights and Pathways| February 2017

CONCEPT NOTE

Transforming traditional agriculture has been of concern for applied, economic and development anthropologists. With their holistic approach, cultural anthropologists have dealt with social, economic, political and religious dimensions of ag-riculture. Later, a separate field of agricultural anthropology emerged encompassing various dimensions of agriculture with the positive objective of transforming livelihoods of rural people. The shift from subsistence agriculture to commercial crops during colonial period has significantly altered the profile of cultivation. The green revolution efforts in the sixties intro-duced modern technologies in agriculture with the objective of enhancing the production. In the wake of changes like urban-ization, industrialization education and employment, there has been mobility of traditionally land owning communities into non-agriculture sector facilitating the mobility of non-land owning communities into agriculture. This has altered the agrar-ian structures in rural areas. While land ownership offered prestige, agriculture and different specializations in agriculture have been pointers to identities for certain communities. In the wake of various developments, many studies discussed the de-cline in the numbers of farmers and increase in the number of agricultural labourers revealing a trend of marginalization.

The arrival of genetically modified crops and the consequences of liberalisation polices resulted in massive shifts in the agri-cultural practices affecting the lives of cultivators. Trends like aqua culture, contract farming and processing industries var-iously affected the farmers. Increase in the cost of production in terms of rising costs of seed, fertilizers, machinery and labour affected the returns from agriculture. In this context, land related issues, like land acquisition, land alienation, land re-forms, received the attention of many. Rising land costs and urbanization are displacing farmers from the age old occupation. For the labourers, agriculture does not provide employment round the year, and this becomes a more serious problem in pro-longed drought periods. Due to various factors, legislations regulating wage rates of agricultural labourers are not successful.

On the other hand, measures like MNREG to tackle rural unemployment and reduce out-migration from villages are said to be helpful to a large extent. The uncertainties in commercial agriculture and the rise of debt burden has been the cause of suicides among farmers. The sustainability of the technology driven agriculture is under question from many quarters. Intensive use of fertilizers affected the soil fertili-ty and over use of pesticides lead to resistance among pests. Availability of irrigation increased agricultural production and at the same time added new issues. Places where agriculture is dependent on ground water, the cost of digging bore wells, maintenance of oil engines or erratic electricity supply led to more investment costs. Depletion of ground water forcing farmers to go deeper and deeper in to the ground for water has been an additional burden. For tackling the shortage of water, investments are needed in the form of sprinklers, drip irrigation, rain guns and so on. All these shift the focus towards the availability of adequate credit supplies to farm-

February 2017 |Agrarian Anthropology: Insights and Pathways| |3

ers. Policy decisions of state such as loan waiver schemes, crop holidays etc. have their implications for different strata of farmers.

While the efforts to modernize traditional agriculture continue, there is also a counter trend to traditionalize modern agricul-ture. Interest in indigenous knowledge and technologies, and trends like organic farming is increasing day by day. The farmers who were lured to adopt high yielding varieties of hybrid seeds and fertilizes in the 60s and 70s are now being told to revert to indigenous techniques and preserve traditional seeds. Of late, there have been many debates on crisis in agriculture, viability of small farms, and consequence of technology for farmers and labourers, farmers’ suicides, etc. Many suggest that the endeavour should be towards farmer-centric technology development research and participatory development. As majority of Indian popu-lation continue to depend on agriculture for their survival, livelihood, and employment, the issues and problems may be revisited.


INAUGURAL CEREMONY The seventh international conference organised by the department of anthropology at University of Hyderabad on the topic “Agrarian Anthropology: Insights and Pathways” was inaugurated on February 16, 2017. The two-day conference had Professor K Suman Chandra, Head of Centre for Agrarian Studies at the National Institute of Rural Devel-opment, Hyderabad as the Chief Guest and Professor D Narasimha Reddy, Former Dean, School of Social Sciences, UoH as the Keynote Speaker. The other dignitaries present

for the inaugural ceremony were Professor Appa Rao, VC, UoH; Professor P Venkat Rao, Dean, Department of Anthropology, UoH.The inaugural session commenced with an address by Professor P Venkat Rao, co-ordinator of the Seminar, who spoke on how anthropological wisdom can be used to look at agriculture. The seminar will be focussing on links between culture and agricultural practices, evolution-diffusion-distribution of agriculture in the Indian Society, change and restructuring of states, economic approaches, modernisation

and traditionalisation of agricultural practices and most importantly on the principle concern of suicides among Indian farmers.The Vice Chancellor, Professor P. Appa Rao, approached the farming system in India as one that has changed over the years and spoke about his research on intercropping and change of bio-communities affecting the “health of the soil.” He extended his concern about the exploitation of the natural resources and the need for intense research on traditional ways of farming which included use of natural fertilisers like cow dung and the possibility of ac-commodating microbes present in the dung in any other form so as to rely less on chemicals. The Chief Guest, Professor K Suman Chandra focussed on suicide among the farmer’s community as ensnared in the “death trap.” Prof.D.Narasimha Reddy, an eminent economist, assessed the issues faced by farmers as a larger economic problem. He elabo-rated on how economists look at the larger mapping and not at the processes which lead to the decision making policies. He dis-cussed how anthropologists should find methods to elaborate possible alternative agricultural methods to improve productivity.


SESSION IAgricultural Practices: Continuity and

Change

Chair: PROF. N. SUDHAKAR RAO

Transition in farming practices and cultur-al life of farmers in Faridkot district, Punjab -Amandeep Kaur

The objective of the paper was to highlight changes occurred in the cultural life of farmers due to modernization of farming techniques. The data for the study was acquired through case studies, interviews, self-structured sched-ule and quasi-participant observation. Paddy cultivation was followed by burning down the crop residue and sowing wheat. Small-scale farmers mostly relied upon this method due to their financial and institutional inaccessibility towards modernized methods. Whereas large-

scale farmers utilized modernized techniques extensively. Replacement of fodder production by wheat straw with automatic fodder making machines resulted in unemployment. Mod-ern farming gadgets began to be worshiped in the place of traditional ones. Traditional group farming and clustered housing patterns disap-peared due to lose of work culture and inter-ests being directed towards salaried jobs. Huge amount spent on modern machinery as a mat-ter of prestige and pride resulted in huge debts. The paper ended with presenter suggesting to provide subsidies to cultivating machines and sourcing it through cooperatives, installation of rice planting machines in accordance to sug-gestions from farmers and fixation of MSP for crops in order to nurture multiple cropping.

Patterns of tribal and agrarian landscapes -Prof. P. Vijay Prakash

The paper attempted to look at the differences in agricultural practices in hill tracts and uplands. The areas of study were Malkangiri district in Odisha, a single tribe habitat zone, Ananthagi-ri hills in Telangana, a caste-tribe habitat zone, and Godavari valley in Andhra Pradesh, a multi tribe habitat zone. A village was taken as the basic unit of study. The geomorphic features of the river valley zone, hill stream zone and cos-tal zone were compared. This showed that the river valley zone had the thickest layer of soil cover followed by the hill stream zone, which had a very thin layer of soil cover and the costal zone had the least amount of soil cover. Various

parameters such as geographical area, popula-tion density, number of households were taken into consideration to compare the pressure on land in single and multi tribal habitat zones. The presenter then left an open question regarding the most appropriate agricultural practices to

be followed under such situations. The transi-tion from axe cultivation to plough cultivation and then mechanized cultivation was discussed and then a relative comparison between select-ed parameters under each type of cultivation was done. The parameters chosen were, ter-rain, water, labor, economy and education. The possibility of deforestation being repalced by plantation and farm cultivation was discussed. The indigenous knowledge on the tribal com-munity to tackle the problem of shortage of soil by creation of bundts was showcased as an example of the transition from an axe cul-tivated field to a plough cultivated field. The paper provided sugestions for improvement of agricultural practices in the focused areas.


nology in additional areas and more farm-ers are adopting a part of the technology.

A Water based livelihood en-hancement efforts and appropri-ate technology for tribals in Odisha -Dr. Nilakantha PanigrahiThe paper talks about the use of trade pump in irrigation. International development enterprises, India is engaged in the devel-

opment of rural agriculture with an aim to bridge the gap between the needs of the farmers and the product availability in the market. The paper delineates the areas of impact of Treadle Pump popularly known as the ‘KrushakBandhu Pump (KB pump)’ on the agriculture based livelihood of tribal farmers. It covers a wide spectr um of tribal life and their changing livelihood in a ho-listic manner. Secondly, it finds the nature and elements of the KB Pump technology; its relation to socio-cultural context and

SESSION II

Strategies for Improving Agricultural Production

Chair: Prof. Debashis Acharya

Augmenting productivity and income from paddy in eastern India - a case study of Balasore district in Orissa

-B. Sridhar

The paper presents the success of a pilot proj-ect of NABARD titled ‘Augmenting produc-tivity of lead crops’ through adoption od ap-propriate technology in Balasore district of Orissa, the lead crops here being paddy. Bal-asore has different types of agricultural land and hence a project can be replicated any-

where else, if it is a success here. The project objectives were to increase the productivity of major crops by 30% and to increase the net crop income level by 50%. The farmer has multiple roles to play, whose efficiency

can be improved if he is relieved of some of the roles. For this purpose, key production input services like soil testing and quality seeds were provided and farmers collec-tives were set up. NABARD implemented the project through ‘Project monitoring units’ and ‘Project implementing agencies’. It involved a variety of technology interven-tions starting from varietal replacement to integrated pest management and integrat-ed nutrient management. The net crop in-come has increased more than two to three fold in case of kharif paddy. Localised and widespread demonstration helps inadopt-ing new technology. The impact has been such that farmers are using the same tech-


SESSION III

Tribal Communities and agricultural practices

Chair: Dr. VNVK Sastry

agriculture input and output market; The pump saves electricity and is also very ef-ficient. The diachronic method has been adopted to find out the growth impact of Treadle Pump (KB Pump) a irrigation tool on tribal life and living. The paper argues that the bio-social and bio-physical factors in the context of time and space specific needs to be taken into account while de-veloping both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ domains of development of irrigation technologies and be necessarily considered as the precondi-tion for comprehensive development of the underdeveloped communities of the world.

Land Allotment, agriculture and

method of cultivation: A study of de-notified tribe settlement in Andhra Pradesh -Dr. Malli Gandhi

The paper discussed about the change of status of denotified tribes of Andhra Pradesh before and after independence. Large numbers of colonial archives are about Tribal agricultural practices. And Gandhi says the new revenue policies of erstwhile colonial and post colonial gov-ernments have dislocated, destroyed & virtually ruined the lives of tribal commu-nities. Semi-nomadic and nomadic tribes of the past have now started doing settled agriculture. Gandhi identifies that even to-day these denotified tribes are using prim-itive tools and technology for agriculture.

He further says denotified tribes are facing double the problems to that of tribes in India. From the colonial times to present, different Governments tried to transfer the owner-ship of land with different categories and in-vented labels. But, in many instances these plans of transfer of ownership with pattas have failed to materialize because of not un-derstanding of tribal situation by planners. These denotified tribes are also facing many other issues like lack of proper irrigation fa-cilities and lack of credit facilities. Finally, Dr. Gandhi suggests that the government

Agriculture among tribal communities in Odisha -Swayambar Naik

This study is a general attempt to under-stand the changing scenario of agricul-tural practices among different tribes of Odisha. In the present study, Naik tried highlight the agricultural practices among the Dongria Kondh, one of PVTGs in the state. Kondhs are residing in the top of the Niyamgiri hills by highly depending upon agriculture for their livelihoods. Niyamgiri hills are one of the rich resource contain-ing places in Odisha. They cultivate mil-lites in the hill patches for their own use and for barter exchange. Their lives revolve around the Niyamgiri hills. Khonds are well known for their horticultural produc-es and shifting cultivation and their prod-ucts are original in nature. But the present day changes in agriculture are affecting the life style of Khonds to a large extent. The focus of paper was the status of Dongria Khonds are considering by government as to non-PVTGs from PVTGs on the basis on their changing agricultural practices.


Problems of Agricultural and Land-less Labourers in India: Major Issues and Challenges Facing in an Econo-my -Laxmi Narayan Nayak

This paper mainly focused on major prob-

lems that agricultural and landless labourer who form 75% of the population of India’s population. And it also says that there prob-lems are therefore becoming the hurdles for development process of our country. It de-fines agricultural laborer as the one who is basically unskilled and unorganized laborer.

It has also enlightened us on some govern-ment schemes that were and being imple-mented for the welfare of agricultural and landless laborers. The presenter has also sug-gested some measures to improve the condi-tion of agricultural labourers like by main-taining a balance between the production of staple foods which we are exporting and oth-er food crops which we are importing which would improve profits of farmers which in turn would improve the wages of labourers

Challenges Faced by Small and Mar-ginal Farmers in Faridkot District in Punjab -Navneet Kaur Gill

This paper focused on problems being faced by small and marginal of Farid-kot district of Punjab. Small and mar-ginal farmers in this paper are dis-tinguished based on land holdings.

It was stated that the major problems that the

farmers are facing are fragmentation of land

holdings, disproportionate income and ex-penditure leading to indebtedness which in turn is leading to farmer suicides which is a major problem of Indian agricultural sector. This is making younger generations disin-terested in taking up agricultural activities.

Her analysis suggested that the gaps be-tween expenditure and income can be reduced by improving the availabilities of subsidies over inputs of production.

Impacts of Discontinuation of Tobacco Cultivation in Aravallipadu Village of Andhra Pradesh -Dr. C. Kranthi Kumar

Andhra Pradesh is one of the leading producers of tobacco, especially Virgin-ia Tobacco. This paper focused on the causes that are leading to shift from cul-

SESSION IVProblems of Agricultura/Landless

Labourers and Farmers Chair: Prof. N. Purendra Prasad


tivation of tobacco to other crops and also discussed the effects of this shift on agricultural labourers and farmers.

The causes that are leading to the shift are diseases, increasing wages of labour-ers, diminishing market value due to in-creased awareness on hazards caused by tobacco, government policies and unpre-dictable rainfall( which is a significant cause). The effects of this on farmers in-clude decrease in income levels of farmers as well as the labourers and this decreased their standard of livings. It was suggest-

ed that the pace of shift should be slow so that the impact of this would be low on socio-economic conditions of farmers.

River Ecology and Sustainablity of Miah Muslims of Assam -Manoj Kumar Das

SESSION VDistress in the Farming Families

Chair: Prof. R. Siva Prasad

This paper focused on nature of culture as an adaptation to environment and also dis-cussed how humans in response to the envi-ronment develop different agricultural prac-tices by taking the example of the community of Miah muslims of Char region of Assam.Miah muslims are the communities that migrated from Bangladesh to Assam and therefore they are not the indigenous peo-ple of Assam. But still they have developed cultural adaptations like some agricultural practices to sustain in severe flood prone regions of Char. Therefore this paper has enlightened us that humans have a ten-dency to sustain in a fringe environment by exploring possible livelihood strate-gies such as different agricultural practices

Beyond Altruism: Economic Anthro-pology of Social Laws, Marginal Fam-ers and Suicides in Western Odis-ha -Dr. Debendra Kumar Biswal

This paper attempts to understand the community relationship and social norms of famers who committed suicide. Then he explained the social structure of farm-ers and social aetiology-accusation of el-ements or factors which were caused to distress-drought, bank loans, irrigation projects, genetically modified crops and crop failures, corruption. The paper high-lighted economic analysis of social norms and domestic justice, which were created by common agricultural policies and laws of land. The paper analysed and put the aspect of critical linkage property –social norms and suicide of the small and mar-ginal farmers in the study area. The paper concludes by saying that the agriculture of western Odisha has been disrupted by outsiders due to their unwarranted inter-vention into community life of the people.


Forced Engagement of children in Disas-ter affected char land agriculture in Ban-gladesh -Dr. Zulfiquar Ali Islam

The study is conducted in the village called Char Majher Diar in Padma river charland.The paper put forth that children in the study

area are forcefully engaged in agricultural activities like carrying food for parents and weed collection in the crops and small works vegetable cultivation and animal husbandry.

The paper pointed out that the factors like village situation, lack of livelihood sources and Howlat- local an interest free money lending system which are causing for forced children labour in the study area. There are no teachers, education officers and local of-ficials to stop the school dropping children. The paper concludes that there is urgent need of social scientists and other devel-

opment workers intervention to stop the forced engagement of children to enjoy the school age in char land agricultural area.

Changing agricultural practices in Ma-nipur -Dr. Kennedy Singh

The study area is Kakching district, which is located south east corner of Manipur. The study area is known for fertile lands. Ag-

riculture is the main occupation for many people and major sector in state economy. There is estimation that 52.19% are de-pending on agriculture in Manipur state. The paper highlighted that there are rapped changes happening in agricultural in the study area with commercialisation of ag-riculture and land due emergence of pseu-do-agriculturalist group within and outside the communities. The paper pointed out that, the agricultural land is shrinking of due

to extension of high ways and commercial-ization of land to build new residence com-plexes as well industrial complexes. Thus the paper tries to bring out the ground realties and issues of agriculture in the study area.Impact of Farmers’ Suicide on Women in Maddur Taluk of Man-dya district -R. Archana

The study area is located at bank of Shim-ha river which has kaveri river irriga-tion canals.the paper highlighted the social causes of farmer suicide and its impact on women of deceased farmers. Further the paper pointed the copy-ing strategies and mechanisms of wom-en who are leading their families with help of kins and relatives. The researcher put forth politics over compensation of farmer’s suicide. The paper concludes by saying that there are social problem evi-dent in framers’ suicides so that there is


need for social policy look into this issue.

Agrarian Relations, Land Reforms and Ag-ricultural Development: A Study in West Bengal -Prof.Buddhadeb Chaudari

The paper majorly focused on the types of relations between land owners and land-less, for the purpose of production. The study was conducted in West Bengal, where land reform programmes like Zamindary Abolition, Ceiling of land holding, Oper-ation Bagra were implemented to provide security and protection to landless or mar-ginal farmers. This is a region which also witnessed different peasant movements like

SESSION VIAgrarian Societies and Agrarian

Relations Chair: Prof. Sheela Prasad

Tebhaga movement, Naxalbari movement

in the past. He raised some important ques-tions such as, “how land reforms and agri-culture development have influenced the existing the agrarian relations?” and “how different economic categories are related to caste hierarchy?” He spoke about the ‘social stigma’ in the context of certain agricultural operations. He also talked about how soci-etal relationships are changing when mono crop pattern is replaced by multi-crops. He gave detailed analysis on these questions.

Contract Farming Participation and Emerging Agrarian Relation in West Bengal -Hari Charan Behara

The issue of lower economic category in new development planning was the point of concern in this paper. According to the speaker, there is a modest attempt to focus on farmer’s participation in ‘Potato con-

tract farming’ and emerging agrarian rela-tion in West Bengal. The paper focuses on some major issues and perspectives of con-tract farming participation which is further contextualized in terms of extent and lev-el of participation among different social groups. The major objectives of the study in the context of contract farming were

1) The study of nature and ex-tent of participation2) To examine the socio-econom-ic factors that influences farmer’s and3) To understand new agrarian relationsHis findings were from 3 villages with heterogeneous caste-class composi-tion in Bhardhaman and Bhankura dis-tricts of West Bengal,which he ana-lyzed about the marginal social groups in the emerging agrarian frameworks.


The Evidence Based Agricultur-al Practice and its Impact on Con-tract Farming -Shoeb Ahmed

Evidence is central in decision making in the selection of crops under contract farm-ing. According to him, there is an urgent need to adopt evidence based practices for agricultural innovation to protect harvest under contract farming and enable farm-ers and processors to yield high quality crops . He also spoke about implementa-tion of evidence based agriculture practice by training farmers in field selection , crop schedule , use of irrigation technology , use of quality crop seeds , fertilizers and pesti-cides and composting and improving soil moisture during the most critical growth stages in rain fed cropping systems. Farm-ers can adopt ‘Evidence Based Agricultural Technology ‘ and support farmers efforts in improving yield by supplying testing equipment and trained quality control tech-nicians for improving farming operations.He suggested that ’E B A P’ practice in-clude a linked process of planned and tar-geted systematic reviews and guidelines for agriculture and technology decision making is needed to facilitate knowledge development and use in contract farming.

Agriculture Labor : An Anthropological Study of Gagupally Village in Telanga-na State -Praveen Kumar ChThe paper aims to understand the socio – economic conditions of the landless laborers and the employment situation of labourers of Gagupally village located in Nizamabad district of Telangana. The paper focused on the impact of migration on landless la-borers households and mechanization on landless laborers . The paper found that these laborers mostly belong to lower castes such as mala , madiga, vadeera , kurma and the living conditions of these villag-ers differ from other sections of the village.The section gave insights into the sit-uations in agrarian society and mechanisms of contract farming.

SESSION VIIAgricultural Innovations and Sus-

tainable Agricultural Practices Chair: Prof. Jyotsna Bapat

Development in Agrisector: Challenges and Opportunities -David Brenard

This paper primarily tries to understand why rapid technological developmental in agricultural sector is not yielding intended

positive results? He talks about problems in the agricultural sector which includes la-bour shortage, shortage of agricultural land and lack of ground water resources in semi arid areas. He comes up with solutions for farmers which include occupational shifts, diversification of agriculture to commercial crops, taking up small entrepreneurial ac-tivities etc. A striking feature of his paper is the mention of Systemic Rice Intensifi-cation (SRI),a method of rice cultivation which emerged in Madagascar. The poten-tial of SRI, its scientific explanation, equip-ments required were also elaborated in the


paper. The conclusion of the paper sug-gested policies that should be implement-ed to promote and expand SRI in India.

New Technology and Agriculture : Changing Labor Relations in Telan-gana village -Y. Srikanth

Discussion on the paper started with post independent agrarian reforms including green revolution that created a shift in the techno agrarian practices which were prevalent in a peasant society like India. A micro anthropological study was con-ducted in one of the rich paddy cultivated region of Telangana using field work, ob-

servations, and case studies to analyze the labor relations considering the determi-nants of caste, class and gender. The focus on both attached and casual labor was a no-table feature. The system of “ Paleru” and “ Vetti” and the changes in the Paleru(at-

Cost Benefit Aspect of Farming Practices: A Study in Odisha -Rajanikant Jena

India is primarily and predominantly an agrarian economy. The presentation out-lines farm mechanization, green revolution, and rapid demand for farm equipments along with its impact. Primary and second-ary data sources were analyzed to examine the cost benefit aspects of mechanization

in agricultural sector. Farm mechanization as a tool was used to examine the reducing drudgery in agriculture on the Basudebpur block of Bhadrak district of Odisha. A sta-tistical comparison relating labour and its change using mechanized farming methods were also a part of case study. The paper con-cluded that farm mechanization is effective in coastal areas but will not be the same with tribal areas. Two interesting points arised during the discussion that followed are about

farmer suicides and land re- distribution.

Conservation of Germplasm of Roots and Tuber Crops enhances food security of Ad-ivasis -C. S .Chandrika & P. Vipindas

This paper reveals the outcomes of Ger-mplasm conservation of roots and tubers among Paniya, one of the most vulnerable Adivasi community and its impact on en-riching their foodbasket. The study was conducted in the tribal pockets of Wayanad, Kerala were almost 36 tribal communities inhabit. Inspite of being the model state in the country in terms of favourable sex ra-tio, low maternal mortality rate and other factors of socio economic, 13.9% of adivasi familes in Kerala are malnourished. Inter-vention location of the project was part of Nilgiri biosphere,a biodiversity and climate hot spot. Map of intervention, basic nu-


tritional state of Paniya community rel-evance of roots and tubers formed a part of discussion. Ten germplasms were used for the purpose. The paper throws light into other prominent issues like transient food insecurity, chronic food insecuri-ty and hidden hunger or micronutrient deficiency. Apart from food and nutri-ent security concepts it laid emphasis on pre requisite for sanitation. The chair appreciated the work as a creative one.

Sustainability of Green Energy Through Agro energy -M.D.Anisur Rahaman

The primary goal of developing green sources of energy is to generate power while minimizing both waste and pollu-tion. It was a descriptive analysis based on secondary data sources. Agro ener-

gy refers to energy function of agricul-

ture. It suggest to develop agro energy for food security and climate mitigation. The paper comes up with mechanism for re-newable energy implementation which includes removal of fossil fuels, inclu-sion of external costs, and other financing mechanisms by government. Green ener-gy is a commendable effort in solving the energy issues was given as a conclusion.

Role and Impact of Mechanization in Agricultural Sector of Telangana state: An Analysis -K. Sravan Kumar

This paper primarily talks of mechanization and its advantages in increasing the produc-tivity and reducing the cost of cultivation.

The study was based on secondary sources. Comparative statistical analysis was used to explain the labor relations between India

Class Differentiation and Dis-tress of agrarian petty production in India -RV Ramanamurthy

Primarily it talks about petty commodity produces and nature of small peasants and their destiny under capitalistic develop-ment. The Marxian political economy, class differentiation into proletariat and capital-istic farmers was interesting. On the basis of the paper in Indian context small peas-ants has been increasing due to factors like subdivision of poverty, poor people occu-pying common properties for which state has given pettas and through redistributive land reforms. Farmers suicide was anoth-er point to be noted in the presentation. Other key points included work force dis-tribution in India, share of cultivators and challenges of transition. Statistical analysis was also a considered. Table on class wise debt profile depicting landless, marginal, small, semi,medium,large and non culti-vator households was critically acclaimed. Other tables included average welfare trans-fer, average household agricultural and non agricultural incomes. The concluding part depicted that 49% of the work force in the country depended on the agriculture of which 25% are land less laborers. The con-clusion comes up with a question” why land is pushed towards petty products” . The


and other western countries. Mechaniza-tion Rate vs population engaged in agricul-ture was considered as an important tool in analysis. Mechanization levels in India have increased over a period of time is one of the relevant points put forward. Farm mecha-nization in Telengana has become a com-ponent of normal state plan and other wel-fare programs like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna was discussed . Issues and challenges in mechanization included lack of trained personal and rapidly rising price of oil. Suc-cess story in the area were also presented.

The paper concluded by suggesting that in Telengana farm mechanization is low and the schemes are not being imple-mented efficiently. The chair comment-ed it as a brief and well presented paper.


VALEDICTORY

& CLOSING

The two day conference organised by the department of anthropology at University of Hyderabad on the

topic “Agrarian Anthropology: Insights and Pathways” had its closing ceremony on February 17, 2017 af-

ter providing a great learning for all the participants. The keynote addresses and 28 paper presentations

ranging from topics related community and family practices in Agriculture to sustainable goals to be set,

as well as new strategies to be implemented, made this an eye opener to everyone present at the conference.

The valedictory address was given by Shri. Gopo Bihari Panda (Former Senior Advisor, Planning Commis-

sion, Government of India), who spoke about how effective the conference was in opening up to different issues

faced by farmers across the country as the sessions included not just Southern Indian and Northern Indian

farmers issues but also addressed the North Eastern Indian farmers. He lauded the University of Hyderabad

for taking up such a unique topic for the conference. The speaker emphasized that, as the Indian government

has been making amends to fix the current status of the agrarian sector in the country an anthropological

perspective, would go a long way in introducing alternate agricultural methods and increased productivity.


Feedback from ParticipantsThe milieu of conference you organized and

operate was, in fact, very lively and affable to the participants and it opens a newer intellectual exercise in the horizon of the discipline: Agrarian Anthropology... Such academic congress should regularly be orga-nized for our intellectual sharing in academ-ic world.

- Dr. Zulfiquar Ali Islam

Conference was highly informative, rich in content and definitely relevant. It should be held as an annual event.

- Hari Charan Behera

The conference organised by the Anthropolo-gy Department of (HCU) gave me immense pleasure and idea in the field of agriculture. The organiser has rightly chosen the theme and selected papers for the presentation covering different domains of agricultural practices in the modern world. They have given ample space/ time for discussion on each topic which was really encouraging and worth. The hospitality rendered by the organisers particularly student volunteers were really beyond expectation. I really ap-preciate the organising committee for giving

me this wonderful opportunity and sharing my views with great academicians of the country and abroad. Expect the same type of seminar should be organised in each year.

- Rajanikanta Jena

The conference on “Agrarian Anthropology: Insights and Pathways” is very useful to interact with people who have been working on the various aspects of Agrarian Anthro-pology. In my opinion it is very good.

- Dr. Kranthi K Ch.

The two day International seminar was too good. Seminar was related to my research area and very useful to my research...I was able to interact with academicians and research scholars from various universities. I also learnt how to present a paper with critical analysis. Thanks very much to De-partment of Anthropology for such a great international seminar. - Sravan Kumar K

I have really enjoyed my participation in the International Conference – Agrarian An-thropology: Insights and Pathways, orga-nized by the Deptt. Anthropology, Univer-sity of Hyderabad on 16-17 February,2017.

Apart from Inaugural and Valedictory sessions, around 30 papers were included in seven sessions to cover the different and emerging facets of agrarian anthropology. The sessions were systematically planned and organized and in the valedictory ses-sion, mostly the present post graduate students presented the reports of the differ-ent sessions. It was quite competently done and a very good learning process for them. The encouragement of the teachers in this context is really noteworthy. This really helps the younger students to grow and develop the analytical skill. All the sessions were well attended till the valedictory one, relevant and interesting questions were raised and discussed. The only negative observation was there was not much time for discussion in some sessions. Otherwise, this was a very refreshing and stimulating conference cover-ing papers from not only India but outside also having similar issues and problems.

- Buddhadeb Chaudhuri

The conference with interdisciplinary ses-sions was highly interactive and being focused on agrarian issues, it has a rele-vant use in implementing any development programme for the welfare of the developing countries like India as majority of the people of such countries are engaged in agricultural activities. - Micky Das

Insights of Agrarian anthropology Conference 2017

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